(A/N: This is complete fiction! This is not based off of anybody!
Rated T for sensitive topics: suicide, depression.)
The Girl That Harry Potter Killed
One day, a girl whose name was Naomi Evans was on her way to the bookstore. She parked in the closest parking spot to the store, and slammed the door on her ancient Chevy truck.
She glanced at the New Releases display on her way to the Romance section. One title made her stop short. Naomi picked up the book to get a closer look. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. There was a boy on a broom, and he seemed to be flying. Intrigued, she opened the cover to read the description on the inside flap. It was about a boy that was an orphan, and hated his life, until one day he finds out he is a wizard.
Naomi read the whole description, then put the book back down. She wasn't interested in this magic stuff. But when she was in her section, she had a hard time picking a book. Not because she couldn't decided which book to get, but because her mind kept traveling back to the New Releases display in the front of the store.
In the end, she ended up picking a new book from one of her favorite series, and headed back up the front to pay. She couldn't help but look back at the shelf.
"What the heck, I'll just get both and be done with it," she decided. Naomi quickly hurried to the shelf and went up to the store to pay.
"Ah, good choice," the lady at the register said when she saw Harry Potter. "A lot of our customers have read it, and even I picked it up to read. It's really good; just wait until you get to this... Oh never mind. I don't want to spoil it for you." She printed out the receipt, put it in the bag, and waved up the next person in line.
At 9 p.m. that night, Naomi was sitting on the edge of her bed in her pajamas, with the two books she bought in each of her hands. Should she read her romance novel? Or should she read this other new book? Something about Harry Potter drew her in, and she ended up putting her once-anticipated romance novel away and lying on her bed to read a chapter or two before bed.
But Naomi didn't even notice she there was a chapter two. From the second she started, she couldn't put it down. It was continuous Harry Potter all night, until the book was done.
Naomi finally shut the book and glanced at her clock, curious about what time it is.
"Holy..." It was 5 a.m. She couldn't go to sleep because she had to go to work in an hour. So, exhaustion slowly creeping on her now that she wasn't at Hogwarts, but in her own home, she trudged into her bathroom to take a shower.
And from that night on, from that night on Naomi Evans was a Harry Potter fan. But not just any Harry Potter fan. She was a Potter-extremist. She went to every mid-night release party for each book, saw every movie at the first showing the day it came out in theaters, and even wrote some songs for wizard rock bands. When a new book came out, her friends knew not to bother her until she called them to gush over the latest happenings in J.K. Rowling's magical world. Harry Potter was Naomi's life, and she didn't see a problem with that at all.
It was August 15th, 2008, and Naomi Evans was logging onto her computer. She has been following the same routine every day for a while now. Log on, connect to the Internet, and load up Mugglenet, HPANA, The Leaky Cauldron, and other Harry Potter fan-sites. Naomi did this every day to check if there is any news on the up-coming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie, which was a very close three months away.
The first to load was The Leaky Cauldron, and what she saw made Naomi fall out of her chair. The headline read: Half-Blood Prince Movie Pushed to July 2009. Naomi quickly scrambled back onto her chair and read the article. She couldn't believe this; this is just some sick joke.
She hurriedly clicked on the next site to load up: Mugglenet. They said the same thing: Half-Blood Prince delayed until July 17th, 2009.
Naomi wanted to cry. She checked all the other fan-sites as they were popping up. Each one said the same thing; instead of the closely approaching Nov. 21st date, Naomi Evans now had to wait almost a whole year.
But before she cried, she got really P.O'd at Warner Brothers. They said in an article that they thought they could get more money if they released the highly anticipated movie in the summer, rather than in the fall. Warner Bros. is so greedy; don't they know that Harry Potter is one of the highest grossing movie series in the history of movies? Don't they know that the fans would have gone to see it, whether or not it was in the summer or not?
"I bet a lot of fans don't go see it now." But the thought of missing the next movie, based on her favorite book in the series, seemed unthinkable.
"Maybe I should just buy a different movie ticket, and then sneak into Harry Potter. Because no way am I giving Warner Bros. a penny from my wallet. But no way am I missing this movie.
"I bet they are just afraid Twilight will beat them in the box office," she mumbled out loud. Twilight, another book fandom she was into (but wasn't nearly as obsessed about it as Harry Potter), was making their movie debut a small three weeks after Harry Potter's sixth movie.
Naomi then got an email from a friend saying that Twilight was now taking Harry Potter's old spot; Twilight was now being released Nov. 21st.
That is when it really hit Naomi. How long had she waited for a teaser trailer? How long had she waited for this one movie? And now she was being told she had to wait longer??
Naomi stood up and dragged her feet up the stairs; she looked like a zombie. Once she was out of her basement, she saw her broom. Without thinking, she grabbed it and started hitting everything in reach with it. All the anger and pain Warner Bros. just caused her came out. She destroyed everything in sight.
When she finally stopped, she had tears streaming down her face. She went up to her room to lie down on her bed. Naomi stayed there for a while, crying her eyes out.
She didn't realize that she missed work. She didn't realize the phone was ringing several times; her friends were calling her to make sure she was okay. They had seen the news to, and worried about her when she didn't answer her phone.
And all day, Naomi stayed in her room, only leaving to use the bathroom and get something to eat.
Naomi sank into a deep depression. She never went online, and she didn't read her books anymore. She went to work, but she had no social life. Her friends stood by her, trying to snap her out of it.
"It's just a movie, Naomi. And it's still coming out. Come on, now you're being silly about this whole thing."
And once, Naomi did think this was a silly reaction. But that was only for a second. She would never forgive Warner Bros. for doing this to her.
One day, Naomi heard a knock on the door. She didn't want to answer it, so she just ignored it. The knocks kept coming, though, louder with each tick of the clock.
"NAOMI! OPEN UP!" Naomi couldn't escape her friend, Miranda. She knew Miranda would stay there until she was inside the house.
Naomi unwillingly stood up and unlocked the door. Miranda quickly barged in.
"Naomi, guess what day it is!" Naomi didn't keep track of the days anymore. There was only one day she was interested in now. So she just shrugged.
"It's November 21st! Twilight is coming out today, and I want to go see it, but I don't want to see it by myself. So I'm dragging you with me, whether you like it or not."
Naomi's eyes got wide, and she stumbled backward. She didn't want to see Twilight! Not today! Twilight was the one that took... But I can't even bear to think it.
But in the end, Miranda persuaded Naomi to go. She watched the movie, and agreed it was really good, but it didn't lift Naomi's spirits at all.
The days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. Naomi's depression just got worse and worse.
One night, she thought it was March because the snow was starting to melt, she couldn't stand it any longer. The sadness was paining her, she couldn't wait any longer. She walked downstairs to her kitchen, and wrote a message on her hand.
Then, Naomi walked downstairs to her basement to grab a rope. She looped it around the beams in the ceiling, and tied a hole in it. She grabbed a chair and pulled it under the rope, then stood on it. Slowly, and without thinking, she lifted the noose over her head, secured it around her neck, and kicked the chair out from underneath her.
And that was the end of Naomi Evans.
"Naomi, open up! Naomi, come on! NAOMI!" Miranda banged on the door. Her panic started to escalate. She usually opened the door by now. It was March 23, 2009. Naomi's birthday. Miranda had brought a present for Naomi, knowing very well she probably wouldn't even use it once Miranda was gone.
Miranda worried for her friend constantly, everyday. Instead of getting better, Naomi was getting worse. She came to visit her friend everyday, except yesterday. She had to work extra hours to make up for the times she left early to be with Naomi.
"NAOMI! IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS STUPID DOOR RIGHT NOW, I'M GOING TO CALL THE POLICE!"
There was no answer, and no one came to the door. Miranda had no choice. She pulled out her cell from her purse, and dialed 911.
"Hello, Officer? My name is Miranda Waters. I'm standing outside my friend's house, but she won't open the door. I'm worried about her; she's been very depressed lately. The address is..."
Soon, a cop car pulled up in front of Naomi's house. Two officers stepped out and nodded their heads at Miranda as a greeting. They walked pass her seat on the steps, and proceeded to the door.
"Naomi Evans, this is the police. If you don't open this door, we will have no choice but to break it down."
One minute passed, and Naomi never came to the door. Miranda was now silently crying. She had a horrible feeling in the bottom of her gut.
The police broke down the door. There was no sound; a deadly silence filling the house.
Miranda quickly searched upstairs for her, and downstairs as well. The police stayed, knowing deep down what had happened to this Naomi, but not having the heart to tell her friend.
Miranda looked everywhere, but didn't find her. She passed the basement door, and saw it was opened slightly. She cautiously went down stairs, with the police behind her, afraid of what she would see.
They reached the bottom of the stairs, and she switched the lights on.
Miranda fell over sobbing.
"Yo, Joe! Come here, ya gotta see this!!" Andy pulled the email up again.
"What is it?" Joe rushed over.
"Look at this email I just got."
It was a montage of a girl; it started off with a cute girl reading Harry Potter. But then it started to get scary. The cute girl was shown a complete mess, looking like a zombie. Then the next pictures made them both want to vomit. The girl was shown dead, hanging from a rope. Finally, the last picture was of her hand, and written in Sharpie Marker was a message:
I hate you Warner Bros. This is what your greed did to me.
"Who is this from!? Is this some practical joke!?" Joe couldn't believe any of it.
"It's from a Miranda Waters. She said her friend, Naomi Evans, was a Harry Potter fan, and the delay in the sixth movie pushed her into depression, and eventually killed herself from the pain.
"Maybe that delay... wasn't such a good idea," said Andy solemnly.
(A/N: Warner Bros. should change the date to an earlier date, before this fiction becomes a reality! Maybe Dec. 12, since Twilight took Nov. 21.)