Disclaimer: This rambling will contain Harry Potter spoilers. If you have not read the books or seen the movies, I am unapologetic – it’s been almost a decade. Snape killed Dumbledore.

So, I’m 25. My age puts me firmly in the Harry Potter generation. I use Harry Potter references to describe myself: I’m a Hufflepuff with a touch of Slytherin, I explain when people ask me why I do the things I do. I surround myself with fellow Potter-heads; I identify with characters; I compare real-world events to the books like, well, they’re real (but let’s be real – Trump is a total Umbridge, amirite?).

I remember fairly clearly when I first got the books: I was in probably the third grade, and I lived in a small, predominantly religious community. My family isn’t terribly ‘hellfire and brimstone’ (read: not at all), but Mom still felt the need to read the first book before allowing me to read it because, to quote certain people in our community “Harry Potter is evil and witchcraft is the work of the devil.”

This only served to make Harry Potter beloved by my entire family. We went so far as to have an established reading order for the new books: Mom got them first, because she read the fastest, then me, and finally Dad. Our entire house had to be spoiler-free for at least a month, but it worked. The first book to come out after we started reading the series was Goblet of Fire. This started the tradition of waiting in line at midnight for our copy. When I was particularly young, probably nine or ten, I dressed up for these events. Also around this time, I was devastated to discover that I’m a Muggle. Between Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, I made a list of potential theories about how the series would end. My proudest moment is that I successfully predicted that Harry Potter was a Horcrux. Go, fourteen-year-old me!

I read the new books voraciously, and waited impatiently the two or three years between Harry’s adventures until the series ended in 2007. Even after the novels were finished, it was okay, because I had the movies to look forward to and heckle in theatres. This brings me to the real point of this ramble: I’ve had nothing to wait impatiently for since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2 came out in 2011. We haven’t even had the mass amounts of quality fanfiction since around 2012 – not to offend anyone who still reads and writes said fanfic, I’m just trying to point out that the influx of this precious reading material is not what it was when we were still getting new content every few years.

We’re not going to count Cursed Child in this mess, because that’s a review on its own. I’ve been a part of a dormant fandom since

This week, however, I discovered something that reignited my hope for the Harry Potter fandom: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will not be a stand-alone movie like I’d initially thought. It’s going to be the first of five movies. FIVE. Now, some (like my Nerdboy, the silly butt) think this is an excessive amount of movies for a storyline that wasn’t really in the actual books. Others (like me) think that this is the best news since Dobby became a free elf. Current fan theory states that the Fantastic Beasts movies will follow the rise and fall of Grindlewald, and perhaps young Dumbledore’s relationship with the Dark Wizard. Personally, I don’t really care what the books are about. I’m of a “shut up and take my money” school of thought, as this will give my poor fangirl heart something to look forward to into my 30’s.

The best part of these new movies for me, personally, is that lead character Newt Scamander is a Hufflepuff. We’re finally getting representation, fellow Puffs! November 18th cannot come fast enough for this overjoyed Harry Potter nerd.

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