I remember the first time I saw a Harry Potter movie. It was 2003, and I had never read any of the books. But once I had seen Harry’s crazy adventure in that secret-filled chamber, I was hooked. I started reading the books, and before long, I was a hard core Harry Potter fan, going to the midnight releases, reading Harry Potter websites, and basically just being a nerd. Err, I mean, Harry Potter fan. There’s a difference. But whether it was nerdy or not, my relationship with Harry Potter was just smashing through the first four movies. But then, one fateful evening in 2007, things took a turn for the worse. I went to see the fifth Harry Potter movie, expecting to be amazed. But by the time I walked out of the theater, I felt like I had just been hit with a Cruciatus curse. Order of the Phoenix was bloody awful. It hardly covered the plot of the book, the pacing was off and seemed jerky, the special effects were poor until the very end, and even the music was changed significantly. And besides, since there was no Quidditch, I’m not sure if there was a point in seeing the movie at all. Still, I believed director David Yates would turn it around in the sixth movie. I was wrong. The sixth movie was as bad, if not worse. Besides Lavender Brown not being able to decide what race she was (see Race Hopping , same page), the entire plot was unclear and didn’t match the book, and some parts were breezed over or even skipped. Like, what the heck happened to Kreacher, man? In the end, the only thing sure about the sixth movie was that it set up what’s sure to be an action-packed finale. We can only hope that the splitting of the the seventh movie, Deathly Hallows , into two parts will allow it to better follow the book’s plot. Who knows, this could still be the greatest Harry Potter movie yet. As October winds down, anticipation for the first half of movie number seven runs high. “I have a countdown going in my planner,” said junior Renee Chang. “I have a calendar for Harry Potter, but not for other things,” said junior Alyssa Bovinette. The movie opens November 19th, and excitement is building in Ames and around the world. Will Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows impress? Only time will tell whether HP7 turns into a Hagrid-sized hit or if it’s as bad as Neville Longbottom on a broomstick.