Norielle Diamante

Why I love the Fantastic Beasts Movies J.K. Rowling has yet again opened the magical world for us, Muggles. When I first read about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from my Pottermore account, I was more than ecstatic. The last Harry Potter movie was great but I kind of feel sad that the story that I have always been reading and following has ended. Growing up, I learned to love and embrace the magical world that Joanne Kathleen Rowling had created. Childhood was never exciting and complete without Harry Potter. I made it a hobby of answering every Harry Potter quiz I get my hands off. I feel frustrated whenever I forgot even just a single bit of information about my favourite book and movie. Harry Potter was everything to me. That’s why, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was the greatest news I have ever received. Watching the first instalment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise was overwhelming. From the time I first heard the Harry Potter theme in the movie’s intro until the movie credit was just pure bliss. I especially like Newt Scamander not just because he was the main character, but also because he was played by Eddie Redmayne who I like so much because of his outstanding performance as Stephen Hawking in the Theory of Everything. The whole movie was just perfect! Everything about the set, the actors and actresses, the graphics and effects and the storyline screams of perfection! Rowling indeed is a very talented writer. She’s very detailed about the characters and the stories she had created, and once again, I felt like I was back to my childhood days where I think about being a witch while waiting for an owl to deliver my Hogwarts’ letter. Being a Potterhead makes you understand the story more than anyone else. You’ve already heard about Newt Scamander and Grindelwald, you have an idea of what’s going to happen on the next instalments and you get to recall certain events and story parts based on the Harry Potter films. Following J.K’s twitter account also helps since she always give updates about what’s going on and she usually replies to FAQs about her books and movies. I actually have my own theory about what’s going to happen in the next Fantastic Beasts films. If you read the book, you would know that Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts late headmaster, was the one who defeated Gellert Grindelwald, the dark wizard before Tom Marvolo Riddle, or also known as Lord Voldemort. Before Grindelwald became the bad wizard that he is, he became best friends with Dumbledore. A secret that was kept from the wizarding world until, the sneaky Rita Skeeter, who was a reporter of the wizards’ newspaper called The Daily Prophet, forced the information out of Bathilda Bagshot, the celebrated historian and author of Hogwarts, A History, by using a Veritaserum, a potion that can force the truth out of the drinker’s mouth. She wrote a book called The Lies and Life of Albus Dumbledore. It was found out that Albus happened to have a younger brother named Aberforth, and a sister named Ariana. Ariana was a very fragile child and after their father, Percival was imprisoned because he got back to the two muggles who made fun of Ariana, their mother, Kendra, decided that they should move out and start a new life in a new place. Thus, the Dumbledore family moved to Godric’s Hollow which also became Harry Potter’s birthplace. After the incident between Ariana and the two muggle boys, she became fearful of her magical powers and gets out of control. Only Aberforth could always calm her down. Because of her condition, Ariana never gets to leave the house, so nobody else has ever heard or known of her existence. When Kendra died because of depression, Albus had to quit school since he’s the eldest and someone needs to take care of their sister. It also happened that Gellert Grindelwald was sent from abroad to his aunt’s because his school, which is the Durmstrang Institute, would not tolerate his fancy for the dark arts. He became close with Albus because they were both brilliant and wanted to change the wizarding world for the greater good. Soon, Albus realized that what they were doing was wrong and got to an argument with Gellert which made them duel each other. And because they were in the Dumbledore’s house, Aberforth tried to stop them but ended fighting as well. It was already too late when they realized that Ariana was dead because she was hit by a spell and they don’t have any idea who hit her. Grindelwald escaped and continued to terrorize everyone with his scheme of putting wizards above everyone else. It wasn’t until the wizarding world asked for Dumbledore’s help to stop Grindelwald that he decided to face him at last and defeated him with the help of his former student, Newt Scamander. It was not mentioned in the book, but I have a theory that Ariana had the same condition with Credence Barebone. Credence was the character in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them who was actually a wizard but keeps on pretending to be a muggle because he can’t control his powers. He was called an obscurial. It wasn’t until the Fantastic Beasts movie did we heard about the Obscurus. An Obscurus is a witch or a wizard who cannot control their magical abilities which gives them immense but dangerous powers. They could destroy a large area and a lot of lives at once. It is often triggered by fear of using magic that might cause them hurting others. Jacob Kowalski, a No-maj, also a muggle term in New York, eventually forgot all the magical events and adventures he had with Newt, and Porpentina and Queenie Goldstein. But he will be back in the next movie and it turns out that he will actually marry Queenie, Tina’s sister and who also happens to be a Legilimens, or someone who has the power to read minds. As a spoiler, Newt will also marry Tina. Newt’s past flame was Leta Lestrange, who happens to be related to Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange. They were Lord Voldemort’s Death Eaters and were very familiar with the dark arts. Rowling confirmed that she will be making five Fantastic Beasts movies and will have different locations. J.K never failed to give us awesome stories of the magical world she had created. She will remain a legend and her stories will be all over the world literature. I will never be tired of waiting for her next masterpiece. She will always be an inspiration to me and I will strive hard to be like her someday. Being a writer is not easy. You had to have a wide imagination and a broad mind. You need to be open-minded in everything and be motivated in what you write. It may take time, but once the idea comes to you, it will just continue flowing. Writing has never been boring to me. I always enjoy putting my thoughts in written words and being able to express myself. I may not be a perfect writer, but I know that I have the perfect ideas to keep going and keep dreaming. You may never travel the world physically, but you can do so by using your imagination. Nothing is impossible. You can always make your dreams come true. This coming November 16, 2018, Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald’s movie is going to be released and all the Potterheads are just too excited to wait that long. But then, everything that Joanne Kathleen Rowling writes is worth waiting for. We still have four movies to wait for and hopefully, J.K. will continue to write stories about the wizarding world, because no one is too old enough to read Harry Potter. ❤