The world did end that day. The world as we knew it. Even as we went back to our daily lives, so much has changed because of what happened.

You could basically feel it that day. I was in my first semester of college. I heard about it on the radio on my way to campus. First class was Art 101, and I guess the professor figured it was the sort of class we could use to process without having to ignore what was going on. He had a radio in his office next door, so he was sitting in there listening, and would pop in every 10 mins or so to give us updates. I always listened to my Walkman during that class anyway, so I was getting news from the station I always had on. That was different, too. The morning DJ's did nothing but report news breaks, and take phone calls from listeners who really just needed to talk. They stayed on for hours, way past when the morning show typically ended. It wasn't until they had been on for at least 6 or 7 hours that they finally swapped out. Didn't bother them, they could feel that we needed that sort of consistency just then, not a new DJ every couple of hours. After the art class was over, all my other classes were cancelled. Department offices were closed. I picked up lunch on the way home, tried doing homework, but couldn't get past the fact that the only reason I had that extra time was because thousands of people died that morning. My mom woke up (she slept odd hours taking care of my grandmother, and I figured waking her up wouldn't change what happened, might as well let her sleep), and after I told her what happened, we turned the TV on. Didn't matter what channel, there was nothing else on. We watched as the towers fell. Even as we tried going about what we needed to do the rest of the day, you couldn't escape it. The radio station was still taking calls, and keeping people updated, but would occasionally play an uplifting song, even if it wasn't one they typically played on that station. Everyone was on edge, because you just didn't really know what else might happen. And the feeling didn't go away over the next few days, either. With all flights grounded, you suddenly became very aware of how quiet the skies were, especially if you were anywhere near an airport, where you knew it was usually noisier than hell. Even as more days & weeks went by, you'd realize it was still sitting somewhere in your mind, even if subconsciously. Like the day my mom and I were running errands, and an airplane was coming in to land. It must've had to circle, or made a turn to land, because all of a sudden it banked hard to the left. From the angle we were at, it looked like it was about to hit the tallest building in town. It didn't, but the sheer panic we felt for those few moments... a lot different than if we'd seen a plane angled like that on 9/10. Yeah, we might've still thought it would hit the building, but we'd probably think it was a tragic accident, not a deliberate attack.

I have to brace myself whenever I watch Deathly Hallows Pt. 1. Both at the beginning, and the end. Even though I read the book, so I'd be a little prepared, the book only has Hermione mentioning wiping her parent's memories. When they were actually showing it in the movie, it really hit me. She's erasing her entire life, like she never existed. (And of course, while I'm trying to to start bawling in the middle of the theater, my mom, who didn't read the books, wants to know why Hermione is using her wand on her parents). Then, of course, at the end when Dobby dies. Out of all the characters that died, his hit me the hardest for some reason.