Most readers of the Harry Potter books faced the ending of the series when the last book was released in July 2007. But for one Duke student and many of his fans, the ending came for a second time Sunday.
Senior Robbie Florian finished his daily readings of each of the seven Harry Potter novels yesterday afternoon, a practice that stretches back to Nov. 3, 2014. Each day during the school year since then, Florian has sat on a stool in front of the James B. Duke statue on the Chapel Quadrangle at 4 p.m. and read aloud from the books for an hour to anyone who stopped by to listen.
“I’m just very overwhelmed, it’s crazy,” Florian said shortly after he closed the seventh book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," for good. “I got very emotional at the end there.”
Several students of various years, as well as potential freshmen visiting during the Blue Devil Days program, were on hand to witness the reading of the final pages. Like the dozens of previous daily readings, some spectators came and went as Florian’s voice rang out with character impersonations or slowed to parse a description, and others sat beneath his stool for extended amounts of time.
“It’s a very Duke thing. It makes me happy,” said freshman Julia Kozlowski. “If I don’t have class and I’m walking by, it draws [me] in.”
Others, like senior Chandra Swanson, got to experience the reading for the first time on Florian’s final day.
“It was so nice because I know it’s been going on for some while,” Swanson said.
Looking back on several dozen readings, Florian said one of his favorite memories was a certain part from the first book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone."
“Probably one of my favorite moments was the Mirror of Erised scene,” Florian said. “I love that scene very much and it’s very simple, but it sets up a very complicated story....It’s been very nice having certain moments of the story with specific people.”
In an interview with The Chronicle in November, Florian said there was no particular reason why he would go about reading the entire series from start to finish.
“It strikes me as funny anybody would need a ‘why’ to read one of the most famous stories ever out loud—anywhere,” Florian said at the time.
On Sunday Florian took a bow for the last time to the applause of the students watching.
“It’s been wonderful,” he said. “I had fun.”
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