Any free time I get lately has me reaching for my latest love, the final Harry Potter book. We were among the capacity crowd shouting the countdown to 12:01 a.m. Saturday at our local Barnes & Noble.

I’m a little behind, though. The grand plan was to reread “Order of the Phoenix” by the time that movie came out, then reread “Half-Blood Prince” during the gap until the book.

Didn’t happen. I was 150 pages short come movie time (12:03 a.m. opening day), but determined I still would read the rest. Same with HP6; I was well short as I stood outside the bookstore waiting for someone to leave so I could get in (fire code, and my daughter was stationed inside with an orange wristband so I wasn’t worried), but I refused to whip through the book, which was my favorite in the series to date.

I have roughly 200 pages to go in “Deathly Hallows,” and have studiously avoided anything that would clue me in to something I don’t want to know. My daughter, of course, is dying for me to finish, so we can talk about it. Her brother is reading the book as well, but between a summer class and a new obsession with acquiring a puppy, he’s only up to about chapter 5.

I will say, though, my whole “Snape is good” contention is looking pretty weak about now.

This post originally appeared on ourMidland.com, the online home of the Midland (MI) Daily News. Republished with permission.