Unless I Missed Something When I Read Them A Decade Or So Ago (which Is Entirely Possible), I Second

Unless I missed something when I read them a decade or so ago (which is entirely possible), I second reading the Bartimaeus trilogy, it is a fantastic series

I feel like part of maturity as a 90s kid or whatever is admitting to yourself that for whatever Harry Potter might have given to you in your childhood it is a mid teir book at best to begin with and you are now older and more worldly to understand the more insidious messaging that was hidden in it. And yes, to be a mature adult, it is your responsibility to see and understand this.

You read the books and know what is in them and you have, hopefully, read about the AIDS epidemic since then and know that calling lycanthropy an AIDS stand in considering everything about Lupin and Greymane's storyline is, actually, horrific homophobia.

You have hopefully learned enough about antisemitism to recognize that the Goblins, esp bc they are bankers, are a horrible antisemitic dog whistle in the form of a fantasy race.

You have hopefully learned or experienced enough about/as a woman to understand that the entire storyline with Fleur makes the Weasley women assholes actually. That Pansy wasn't great to begin with but everything with the divination class, Lavendar, Cho and the Patil twins was not written by a "girl's girl". Even depictions of Luna Lovegood border on being kind of shitty. JKR definitely believes there is a wrong way to be a woman even if you are cis and she will not hesitate to belittle and go after you for not being the type of woman she thinks counts.

You may not understand the race politics of London specifically but perhaps you're an irish american and you've learned enough about your own history to pick up the fact that JKR is so racist that she's even racist against the white people in her area ala Seamus Finnegan's name which is every bit as bad a Cho Chang. Once you get there with Saemus and Cho you can also look at the names of every other implied nonwhite student and realize...Wow. That's kind of fucked up.

This doesn't take away your memories. It doesn't change the friendships you made over it. I understand bc I'm up there in that age range and I KNOW that Harry Potter leeched into fucking everything. It's okay. You've grown now though. You do not need it. You will not lose anything that is actually serving you now to put those memories, and maybe even your books and your existing memorabilia, in a memory box and read a better book.

I promise you there exists media that you can hyperfixate on to the enth degree that is deeper, better, more exciting and, most importantly, will not be funding an active hate group.

If you're stuck on kid shit set in London I heartily recommend the Bartimeaus trilogy.