Nothing ‘Half’ about Harry Potter fans

Among all the bouncing tween Harry Potter fans, 63-year-old Rita Hoffmann stands out.

At a recent Johnson County library event, she sports a vest covered in Potter-themed badges and buttons (“Weasley is our king!” and “Muggles for Harry Potter”). She’s brought a small suitcase — actually her “Hogwarts trunk,” complete with a crest and cloak.

“I run around being the evangelist for Harry, and there’s a lot of skepticism on the part of adults,” said Hoffmann, an Overland Park grandmother. “It may be about children, but it’s not childish.”

It’s been two years since J.K. Rowling’s book series came to a close, but fans are still mobilizing.

Movie No. 6, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” opens Wednesday, and anticipation is soaring.

The movie, the darkest yet, was supposed to hit theaters last November, but Warner Bros. delayed the opening to attract big summertime audiences.

Adding to the suspense is the ultimate Scene-That-Must-Not-Be-Named, the climactic death of a key character.

And in the last few days, early reviews have called the movie the “best so far” and “worth the wait.” For many, the series means much more than characters on a screen or words on a page.

Take 18-year-old Jenny Zhong, of Overland Park. The recent Blue Valley Northwest graduate began reading the books in third grade because it was the thing to do. But after the first two, she was hooked. So much so, that when her favorite character, Harry’s godfather Sirius Black, was killed off in book No. 5, she boycotted.

“I just couldn’t understand why J.K. Rowling would ever do that. … I was like, ‘Why, why would this happen?’ ” she said.

Zhong eventually returned to the series to finish books 6 and 7. She’s grateful for the magical world Rowling created.

“No matter when the book comes out, or when the movie comes out, it feels like a holiday,” she said.

Claire Nuti, 15, of Overland Park, traveled “across the pond” to London for the release of the final book. The Nutis’ cats are named Potter and Weasley; the dog, Sirius.

Claire, who will be a sophomore this fall at St. Thomas Aquinas, says she sees herself in Hogwarts’ top student, Hermione Granger — “she’s my book hero” — and roots for her like a best friend or sister.

For Kansas City sisters Alexis and Olivia Taylor-Butler, 18 and 13, Harry Potter is a family affair.

Parents Christine, a children’s book author, and Kenneth, a physician, have raised their daughters in a world rich with literature and storytelling — one where Harry, Ron and Hermione joined them at the dinner table as they listened to the audio books. When Olivia was too young to handle the massive books, she listened in the bathtub.

As their young minds soaked up the language, it became clear the books were stimulating more than their imaginations. When Olivia wrote a story using the word “transfixed,” her elementary school teacher called Christine to scold her for writing the assignment.

“And she said, ‘No urban kids have a language like that,’ ” Christine said, “and I said, ‘Olivia, did you write that?’ and she said, ‘Yeah, duh, Mom.’ And I said, ‘What does transfixed mean?’ and she said, ‘Mom, it means he stood there riveted!’ ”

The Taylor-Butlers spend many an hour debating and discussing the series, as well as other fantasies, like “The Golden Compass” and “Twilight.”

“In our house, reading is like breathing,” Christine said.

Because she’s an author, Christine and her family talk about Rowling’s influence:

“You say ‘Expelliarmus’ and everyone knows exactly what you mean (for you muggles, that’s a disarming charm).

“And isn’t that what a book is supposed to do — introduce a common language?”

If anyone speaks that language, it’s Hoffmann, a self-proclaimed “Harry Potter freak.”

“I not only read the Potter books, I read books about the Potter books,” Hoffmann said.

She and dozens of younger fans recently attended a “PotterCast” at the Johnson County Central Resource Library, complete with performances by touring wizard “wrock” bands the Whomping Willows and the Remus Lupins, and a Professor Dumbledore trivia contest.

In fact, Hoffmann attends Harry Potter conventions all over North America, owns two sets of the movies (one in full screen and the other in wide) and collects the books in various languages — Chinese, Japanese, Thai, French and Hindi. She refers to J.K. Rowling by her first name, Jo.

She wasn’t turned onto the series until the fourth book, having spent years dismissing them as children’s books, but now she encourages friends and family to let Harry Potter into their lives. (Her husband and three adult sons have yet to give in.)

She’s excited about the movie, the third to last one. (Book 7 will be split into two films.) But she’s also apprehensive: How will the film handle the big death scene? What parts of the book won’t make it?

“I’m not quite certain what to expect,” Hoffmann said, “but I know that they will leave things out that will just break my heart.”

With fans like Hoffmann around, Potter mania may never fade.

“The influences in my life are, first and foremost, my faith and my family,” she said. “But oddly enough, what comes after that is Harry Potter. If someone had told me this, 10, 12 years ago, I would’ve hit them in the head with something. (The books) really are enchanting — pun intended. They just took over my heart.”

To reach Rachel Skybetter, call 816-234-4767 or send e-mail to rskybetter@kcstar.com.