Like the rest of the world, I couldn’t resist the magic of The Boy Who Lived this weekend.

Personally I loved Part 1 of Deathly Hollows, but I know a lot of people found it slow. I think I loved it so much because I thought it stayed very close and true to the book. Part 2, though — not so much. But more on that in a moment.

I was going to go with my boss’s wife (I’ve seen the past 3 with her and her daughters), but they weren’t able to go until today. I thought I could wait, but then I started seeing the tweets on Friday and I knew I couldn’t wait the whole weekend. So I helped get E. into bed on Friday night and I left her and DadJovi home and hit the 9:15 show. Personally, I love seeing movies alone so that didn’t bother me.

I was worried I was going to have to deal with long lines and big crowds alone, though, so I was really stunned when I arrived to no lines. And my showing had no more than 30 to 40 people in it. Weird. I guess it was because there were so many showings but I was still really surprised.

I decided to go for the 3D showing, and I may have squealed when the ticket-taker handed me Harry Potter shaped 3D glasses! I didn’t think to take a picture of myself in them there, but that’s OK. I figured the Triple Threats needed my help to take out Who Know Who once and for all.

Darnit! Just realized I’m a couple movies off with that poster. Oh well. And I’m bringing tank top chic to Hogwarts. Somehow I think it’d be frowned upon.

SPOILER ALERT (stop reading right this second if you haven’t seen the movie or read the book. You can skip ahead to the snake picture if you like)

OK, I have very mixed feelings on the movie. Overall, I loved it and in many ways, it was a very satisfying ending to the series. However, I have some serious bones to pick with the filmmakers.

I know that the movies need to deviate some from the books but there were some changes that I just didn’t get, especially given the fact that the movie was only two hours long (DadJovi keeps trying to tell me you need to add both movie times together but I disagree. This is a stand-alone film and should be judged as such).

First of all, they left some HUGE plot points out of the scene with Harry and Dumbledore at King’s Cross. If I hadn’t read the book, I would have been so confused as to why Harry was still alive. The crucial missing part where Dumbledore explains why Harry needed to think that he was going to die would have taken maybe two more minutes. So why not include that?

Also, I’m glad they didn’t take Neville’s big moment away from him, but why rearrange the order of the things? Why couldn’t he just kill Nagini before Harry reveals that he’s still alive? If anything, I think it lessened the drama, rather than heighten it.

And finally, I think they really gypped us on Fred’s death. I mean, that is SO HUGE that Fred dies. And they never even say which twin it is until much later. I cried like a baby when Fred died in the book. With the movie, I never even came close to shedding a tear. Weird.

The only part that I almost cried at was Snape’s memories. To me, that was probably the most powerful part of the book and I think they did a really good job with that in the movie. It was so nice to see Snape finally redeemed! And is it just me, but did young Snape look frighteningly like Jack Black? I just felt so sad for Snape for being misunderstood his whole life and I’m glad Harry was able to learn about the sacrifices he made to keep him alive.

So, all in all, I loved the film. I told DadJovi that I thought it was great, just not spectacular. I know, I know, my standards are way too high. I plan on seeing it again at least one more time in the theaters, so perhaps it’ll grow on me more.

And I’m certainly sad that it’s all over but I was much sadder with the release of the final book. I miss the characters so much already and I definitely miss the excitement of being at Borders for the midnight release of the books (Oh yeah, I did that many times).

I don’t have the same nostalgia that a lot of others have because the first book was released my junior year of college, but who had to time to read for pleasure then? By the time I started reading the books, Goblet of Fire (book 4) had been released. So, clearly, I tore though those four books in about two weeks (it would have been quicker but I was working full-time and in the midst of covering the 2000 presidential election in Washington). It’s funny, the woman who encouraged me to start reading them was about 45. Before that, I knew my little brother was reading them so I thought they were just kids’ books. How wrong I was!

I’m a little sad for E. that she won’t have a series like this defining her childhood. I just hope that some other literary series comes along that captures her imagination like Harry Potter did for an entire generation of children.

But if I’ve learned anything from Star Wars, it’s that big franchises will ALWAYS be re-released in theaters. So I’m sure when she’s old enough, she’ll get to experience the magic of seeing the entire Harry Potter series on the big screen herself.

And if I ever start missing Harry, Ron and Hermione too badly, I just have to head down the road to Wizarding World of Harry Potter and get my geek on again.

OK, now back to the snakes that I promised. First of all, I have a near-debilitating fear of snakes. Issues, people. Issues.

It was bad enough that I had to sit in a theater and see this nasty creature for two hours …

Ugh, I can’t believe I even included a picture of Nagini here. Now I have the chills — and not in a good way. See how much I care about keeping spoilers from you?

But I survived the movie and was doing OK. Then, just as the Central Florida Blogging Conference was about to kick off on Saturday, I get this text from DadJovi …

Yes, that’s a snake in three pieces. After a two-week break, DadJovi was finally mowing the jungle that was our front yard when he looked down and saw this.

E. was apparently so excited, particularly by the fact that the tail was still wiggling. He says she desperately wanted to pick it up, and even started calling it her pet Snakie (clearly, she needs to work on her creativity).

Ugh, ugh, ugh. Know what’s even more fun? I walked through that yard about an hour before he mowed the it. Super. I don’t want to say that I’m glad it’s dead because I think it’s bad karma to wish death on anyone or anything. But let’s just say I’m not sad either.

E., on the other hand, wishes Snakie was still alive. It lead to an interesting discussion today about death and dying, something I wasn’t looking forward to having for awhile.

And, because she loves to torture me, this is the book that she chose out of the thousands at the library today.

But I suppose I should suck it up and try to avoid passing on my phobia to her.

Or just make DadJovi read it to her.

What did you think of Harry Potter? And if you have a phobia, how have you tried to get over it or not pass it down to your kids?