Today was a lovely day. The kind of day when things just all go right and the biggest argument in the backseat is about chewing gum trading. The kind of day where friends are fun and sisters are great and laughing is the perfect answer for everything. The kind of day when the sun shines, the wind blows, you get seats on the subway and the car still gets you home, despite the noises you’re hearing from under the hood.

With Papa out of the house at bedtime, the reading fell to Mama and all the shooting stars seemed to align, making tonight the night my girls met Harry Potter.

And Albus Dumbledore and Professor McGonagle (who Catherine ‘just knew’ was a woman, even before transforming from a cat), and Hagrid and the detestable Dursleys and You-Know-Who- whom they have already learned is Voldemort.

With just two chapters under their belts they have so many questions. Top of the list: What, actually, is a Muggle? Others include: Is Uncle Vernon’s face really purple? How can a Put-Outer turn the street lights back on? (It’s a Put-Outer not a back-oner!) Why is Aunt Petunia so horrible? Wait, why is Harry famous, again? How, exactly, did she turn back into a cat???

There is so much more to come for my eager little ones. I will not spoil it for them by answering their questions prematurely! “Wait and see,” I’ve told them. “The author had a reason she wrote the story this way. We need to trust her.”

They’ve gone off to bed now, dreaming of flying motorbikes (if they’re lucky), but not before one looked back at me as she was leaving the room and said, “Brazil, here I come…..Adios, Amigo.” Our first Harry Potter in-joke and I couldn’t be more proud. It was an emotional read for me, in ways I wasn’t expecting. They’ll never read Harry for the very first time again and I am so glad it happened on such a lovely day.