User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4151139-20110715162515

A geek to the core, I grew up reading just about anything I could get my hands on. Of course, most people outside of my immediate family didn't know that. It's not at all cool to actually like to read (and certainly not to reread!). I used to pretend I didn't like reading like most of my peers just to get out of the teasing I was sure would come. It actually comes as a great shock that I didn't like Harry Potter when i first picked it up. I tried staring to read from book 3, you see, which doesn't really work. Even when I read books 1 - 3 for the first time (in about 3 days) in the 6th grade, I still didn't realize I'd just been reading the books that probably changed my life.

It wasn't until after the 5th book that I became obsessed. There was no hiding it anymore. Immediately after finishing Order of the Phoenix in high school, I needed more information....which, of course, there was none. There was so much mystery! Was Sirius really dead (it wasn't a green flash of light that hit him), was it Ron/Hermione or Harry/Hermione (I was always a Ron/Hermione shipper!) and how in the world would *love* defeat Voldemort (like Harry I also thought it sounded a little lame and not really possible after reading Order of the Phoenix)? And then I found Harry Potter fans who were asking the same questions as me, who were referring back to the books to come up with evidence to support their ideas. I fell into the Harry Potter fandom and pretty much have never looked back.

Yes, I know most people think it's funny when I get incredibly excited at the thought of Harry Potter and go off to Orlando to visit the Wizarding world and I know most people don't get "what's so special about Harry Potter." But the truth is, what's special about Harry Potter are the fans. A group of people just like me who wanted to get involved with the details in any way possible, whose dearest wish would be to meet J.K. Rowling or share a birthday with a Harry Potter character. Everytime I read even just a chapter of a Harry Potter book, it's like the real world doesn't exist for a moment and things like chocolate frogs, broomsticks, and invisibility cloaks do. And the best part about it, is that there are thousands of people out there who get it. For me, Harry Potter represents freedom. Freedom to be yourself and to "geek out" as much as you'd like. Harry has changed my life - and I'm so glad he did! Thank you J.K. Rowling! And Hogwarts forever!!