Why I haven't reread Deathly Hallows yet

And I do want to, people. That one summer when I read all five Harry Potter books for the first time, I read them over and over again. I think, though, that was because I couldn't get a job that summer, so I was broke, and I was only twenty, and I had no other form of entertainment. When Half-Blood Prince came out, I was smack dab in the middle of the GNS of '05, so I read it, loaned it to Jess, and forgot about it. I think I re-read it at one point, and I kind of meant to re-read it this summer before Deathly Hallows, but I only got as far as Hermione sending canaries to attack Ron before I was, like, "Whatever, this book was not the greatest, I remember the important stuff, let me finish The Golden Compass." Which was better. And I didn't finish it until after I'd read Deathly Hallows, despite its being half the size (or less) than that behemoth. But anyway!

SPOILERS FOLLOW, beasts. You have been warned.

I haven't reread Deathly Hallows because it totally destroyed me. I resisted this stupid Harry Potter thing for so long (okay, five years), and then after I saw Prisoner of Azkaban, the book nerd inside was, like, "Um, if you enjoy these movies, you must read the books." So I did. And I couldn't stop. I couldn't! And I got so attached--to everyone but Harry. Even though I was weeping when he was talking to his dead parents and parent-figures, I still didn't really care what happened to him, specifically, just what would happen to his friends. I love his friends, and when Fred died, that was the end of me. End! Of! Me! I'd already teared up a few times before the Battle of Hogwarts, but once we lost Fred, I really just couldn't stop crying. So I can't read it again. I can't, even though there are plenty of things I missed in my haste to find out what the hell was going to happen.

Here's something I haven't said yet: I'm kind of disturbed that Harry just left the rest of the hallows where they fell. Like, what if someone finds the Resurrection Stone in the forest? It's not like no one goes in there. He could at least hide it.

Oh, and something Melissa had to point out to me: Harry and Voldemort are related, since they are allegedly both descended from a Peverell brother. Although, all those pure-blood wizard families are related to each other, blargh. Inbreeding. This is why you need the Muggle-borns, to infuse some variety into the magic gene pool.

Here's something I've never understood: Muggle-borns must be sports, right--and squibs too--so you probably wouldn't have more than one witch or wizard born to a Muggle family for several generations, right? You'd think? I'd think. But Colin Creevey's little brother was also a wizard. And Teddy Lupin was a Metamorphmagus, so obviously Jo's not really thinking about genetics. But I am! These are the kinds of things I think about, because I am queen of the nerds. Sigh.

So I also haven't re-read Deathly Hallows because I have so many other books to read that I have no time for re-reading. Except I'm totally making my way through the Little House books again, reading a few chapters before I go to sleep. Whatever, they're really good "before bed" reading. I need to finish His Dark Materials, because I love it so much it's making me insane. And it started a fight with me and Mike, because he saw the trailer for The Golden Compass, and he wants to see it, and I was, like, "Did you read the book?" which was stupid, because the answer to that question from most people is always no. Who reads anymore? Sigh. So I was teasing him about how he's illiterate or whatever, and I asked him what the last book he read was, and he couldn't remember. And I felt sad, and he got all defensive, and I was like, "Forget it! Get out of my car! Loveyabye!" I wonder if I gave him The Golden Compass if he would read it. The movie doesn't come out till December--he'd have four months.