“The stories we love best live in us forever.” – J.K. Rowling
Fiction consists of people, places and events that are imaginary. Generally, fiction refers to written narrative specifically novels and short stories but is not bounded to it. It is also used in various comics, plays, theatre plays, video games, television programs and movies. Fiction has different forms of genres like romance, comedy, drama, romantic comedy, fantasy, science fiction.
When talking about fiction novels, these are now trending. The teenagers and young adults are liking, appreciating and craving for a new book every now and then. Fictions are beautiful. They create an unimaginable world in a reader’s mind. For those who are introverts, these fiction novels work really well. Keeping the whole world aside, fiction novels let you enter a new world where you can be anything, where you can be what you want. Those who want to pursue their career as a writer, fiction novels are a big help.
Fiction novels are the first choice of most of the teenagers and young adults. And one of the most famous fiction novel series among them of all times is the Harry Potter series. Written by J.K. Rowling, this is one of the best and most famous works by her.
Harry Potter is a series of fantasy fiction novel written by a British writer Joanne Rowling better known by her pen name J.K. Rowling. The series consist of seven novels which contain the adventurous story revolving around the lives of a young wizard Harry Potter and his close friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Wesley. All of them are students of Hogwarts School of Witchcrafts and Wizardry. The main focus of the story is on the victory of good over evil, where Harry Potter struggles to fight and win against an evil dark wizard Lord Voldemort who wants to become immortal and rule over all the wizards and muggles(non-magic people). The first novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released on 26 June 1997 and gained immense popularity and success worldwide. It caught the attraction of many and attracted young readers. It is considered to be the modern young adult literature. After the success of the first novel, the others were sold like hot buns. With immense popularity and increase in demand, the novel series was recorded as the best-selling books as well as the fastest-selling books in the history. It has also been translated into more than eighty languages.
The main reason after the series being famous is its unique plot. When Rowling introduced the world of magic to her audience, they assent it with all their heart. Being a story about magic, it attracted the teenagers and adults who were fascinated by it and they cover a large portion of Rowling’s audience. The time when the first part of the novel was released, people after reading experienced the hunger for such genres. The butterflies in there stomach clinging for what comes next led them to dive into the series making it the most famous of the fiction novel series.
The original publishers of the series were Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Press in United States. Being a famous series which had a huge number of audience and admirers, the Warner Brothers adapted the original series of seven novels into eight parts namesake film series which also gained popularity and attracted many and became one of the highest grossing movie series. After the success of the novel series and movie series, the Harry Potter franchise expanded and held many exhibitions, tours, press conferences and studio tours. On a digital platform, J.K. Rowling expanded and updated the series with new information, insights, stories and plots with new twists and turns by introducing The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in November 2016. There are many themed attraction sites have been built in several theme parks, amusement parks, hotels and resorts which are collectively known as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
The series plot revolves around its central character christened Harry Potter who at the age of eleven discovers that he is a wizard. His magic abilities were inborn. He lived in the normal non-magical world where the muggles lived but being a wizard, like all other children like him he needed to attend the magical school of wizardary and witchcraft, the Hogwarts that teaches the necessary skills to survive and succeed in the wizard world which existed parallel to the normal world hidden in secrecy. Each novel pictures one year of Harry’s life where many of the events takes place in the magic academy Hogwarts. Also, through the story, many flashbacks occur from the characters’ memories. As the story moves on, Harry learns to face and overcome his problems; magical and social. He also faces an ordinary teenage problem and pain like friendship, romantic relationships, school works, exams, anxiety and fear and many mixed emotions.
After the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which gave the introduction plot of the series and was a huge success, the other parts were sold like hot buns. Even when the first part of the movie was released, it as well as all the other parts were a block buster hit.
The second part was Harry Potter and the Chambers of Secrets which was released in 1998. It told the story of Harry’s second year at Hogawarts when he and his friends discovers, investigates and unravels a fifty years old mystery that appears at school. That year Ron’s younger sister Ginny Weasley enrolled in the school as a first year student. It unravels the secrets of Voldemort. Harry also learns that his ability to speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes is rare and often associated with the Dark Arts.
The story continues with the third part, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban released in 1999 which shows Harry’s third year in Hogwarts where his relations with Sirus Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew is described. All of them were his father, James Potter’s friends among which Sirus Black is described as an escaped murderer who assisted with the killing of Harry’s parents and Remus Lupin, his new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher who was later revealed as a werewolf.
The next part, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire released in 2000 shows the time when Harry is in the fourth year of the magical education. The novel tells about a dangerous but exciting and adventurous inter-school tournament, the Triwizard Tournament. It also creates a twist for the next part of the novel as this is when Voldemort returns.
The fifth part, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix was released in 2003 in which due to Voldemort rebirth, Dumbledore reactivates the secret society, the Order of Phoenix which works against Voldemort to defeat him and protect his targets, espically Harry.
In 2003, the sixth part, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince was released in which Voldemort is seen waging open warfare through the magic world. It is revealed that Voldemort has split himself into pieces to create Horcruxes, the evil magical items hidden in different locations .In the midst of the war, the events of adolescence take place; Harry started dating Ginny, Ron develops a strong admiration towards a Hogwarts student Lavender Brown and Hermione starts developing feelings for Ron. Draco tries to attack Dumbledore while he was returning after collecting a Horcrux. The book concludes with the killing of Albus Dumbledore by professor Snape, the nominal Half-blood Prince.
The last part was released in 2007 titled as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In this, Voldemort has gained all the power as well as the access on the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Hermione and Ron drop out of the school in order to find and destroy the remaining of Voldemort’s horcruxes. All of them keep themselves isolated to keep their friends and families safe and protected. On their way of finding the horcruxes, they came to know about an ancient prophecy of the Deathly Hallows, the three legendary magical items, all three which when owned by a single keeper allows the person to be the Master of Death. They find that Harry’s invisible cloak is one of those three and Voldemort is searching for another, the Elder Wand which is the most powerful wand in the history. This part consists of the real and final battle which took place at Hogwarts and reveals some shocking secrets. At the end Voldemort is killed due to rebound of Harry’s spell.
After the end of the series, an epilogue, Nineteen Years Later was also created in 2017 to describe the events in the Wizarding World after Voldemort’s death.
Though this series was created keeping young adults in mind, this has now become a genre for every age. The book takes the audience with them to a journey in the magical world where they experience all kinds of emotions; love, hatred, fear, anxiety and excitement. This series is now a part of every millennial’s teenage years.
By Shravya, Prayagraj
