I reread the first Harry Potter novel for the first time since I was eleven or twelve, and was surprised by how much I noticed when I wasn't invested in just the story. There was a lot more exposition than I remembered. I believe it was more noticeable the second time reading it because I already knew the rules of the world, and didn't need to be immersed the same way I did when I read it the first time. I was also a little surprised at how much less believable some of the characters seemed. It felt very much like a fairy tale, with children living through life changing events and not reacting how you would expect a child to actually react.
I also noticed a lot more themes the second time reading it. Many of the themes prevalent in the first novel are reoccurring in later novels. The idea of a found family is one of the bigger ones. It's established early in the novel that Harry's blood relatives are not the ones who care about his safety and well-being. A lot of the first novel is establishing Harry's friends, and giving him an "actual" family that he can rely on through the next six novels.
I think it's interesting that, like The Hobbit, Harry Potter changed the way we view a genre. Witches and wizards are commonly seen portrayed more similarly to the witches and wizards in Harry Potter than traditional witches and wizards. Harry Potter has become a large part of pop culture, and because of that has changed the way we view different parts of fantasy and magic.
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