Potter-ing in quarantine

Potter-ing in quarantine

Victoria Trembath

Unfortunately, I am one of those people who hasn’t been lucky amidst COVID-19. My contract work has dried up (although to be honest, my job requires me to be in contact with a lot of people throughout the day, so being home is somewhat good) and I suddenly now have ample free time to do whatever I want—within legal boundaries, of course.

With the current situation changing rapidly within every minute of the day, I have needed to escape from the anxiety-inducing real world to somewhere that is safer and less terrifying. A metaphorical warm hug for myself since I can now no longer give or receive real ones.

Like many of you, I headed to my bookshelf for my escapism. Books that I had purchased ages ago started calling to me, begging to finally be read. I chose a few and stacked them on my bedside table. However, I was also wanting some sort of inspiration—I was wanting a character to tell me that they had been in a similar situation and had come out alright. With this thought, my eyes fell upon one particular series where the title character would sympathise with being cooped up inside.

Harry Potter, of course.

With the second Fantastic Beasts movie last year being rather lacklustre and reading J.K. Rowling’s trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERF) tweets, my connection to Rowling’s magical world has waned since my childhood days of waiting for my acceptance letter. It has been a while since I picked up the original series. My set of Harry Potter books have certainly seen better days; a corner of the Philosopher’s Stone’s cover has been bent, The Prisoner of Azkaban’s front cover laminate is peeling off, and the spine from the The Goblet of Fire has broken off completely. However opening up each of the books again after such a long time was like talking to a long-lost friend.

While I am glad that my inner-city apartment is larger than Harry’s cupboard under the stairs (and then his slightly bigger room from the second book), Harry’s isolation from the wizarding world between school years and seeing how he copes is oddly satisfying—except for the whole child-abuse aspect of his isolation—and yet somewhat reflective of our current times. Harry’s excitement of being able to go to the zoo for the first time in his life in Philosopher’s Stone, as the only other places he had been were school, Mrs Figg’s house and the Dursleys’ home, is very cute but also reminds the reader how isolated he is when he feels sorry for the python that is in captivity.

Another hilarious comparison between my reality and Harry’s is seeing people fail completely with technology. In The Prisoner of Azkaban, Ron calls the Dursleys' home and, as he has never used a telephone before in his life, screams through the entire conversation with Harry’s uncle Vernon. While everyone in this day and age knows how to use a phone, watching people adapt to using Zoom—myself included—has been quite funny. Dealing with frozen screens, muted microphones, and very out of sync ‘Happy Birthday’ songs have all been a great thing, if a little vexing at times. I’m just glad I get to appreciate everyone’s company, even when I physically can’t see them.

Re-reading these books, though, does leave me longing for an adventure—unfortunately walking back and forth between the supermarket and my apartment is mundane compared to attending a wizarding school and having to save it every year from an evil wizard. However, I am trying to add some magic into my everyday to stave off the insanity of staying cooped up. When I am out on my daily walks I try to walk past the block of apartments where children live to see all of their chalk drawings on the footpath; I (unsuccessfully) try to become friends with the cat around the corner; and I try to figure out which of the trees the possum who keeps eating all of my plants lives in. I also try to look forward to future adventures. I don’t know when they’ll be happening but planning a visit to a new place, even for a short while, will be nice.

I do wonder what it will be like for all of us when we return to our regular lives. Perhaps we should throw a huge party like those in the wizarding world when Voldemort was first defeated—BYO cloak, of course.