User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4182479-20110721164730

Like many people, Harry Potter is one of my closest childhood friends. I met him when I was seven and we grew up together. We both dealt with making friends and going through puberty. We were both seventeen when he defeated Voldemort and I cried with him as he lost friends, people I knew as well as my own family. In a way they were my family too and their loss hit me as hard as the loss of any long time friend.

But for me, Harry is more than a friend. He was a comforter. As a child I was sick a lot and some of my best memories are ones of my mom sitting with me for hours into the night, reading the adventures of Harry and his friends to me. They were there to get me through nights of tears, they kept me going and showed me the meaning of courage, which comes in all forms.

Because of these books I met some of my best friends in the world, people I will always remember and love. People who I can count on to have my back when the world seems a bleak place. These people helped me become who I am and gave me some Patronus-worthy memories. When we are adults and have kids of our own, we'll share reading these books with our kids. And when we're old and in nursing homes, we'll still be discussing elf-rights and whether or not Voldemort died a virgin. These people are my own personal Dumbledore's Army.

Hermione taught me that loving books makes you strong and capable in a crisis. Neville taught me to be brave even when it looks bleak. Ron taught me that no one decision will define you for the rest of your life and you are more than the sum of your mistakes. Luna taught me that being strange is okay if you're true to who you are. Fred and George taught me to laugh even when darkness is closing in. Ginny taught me that waiting around for some guy to notice you will just get you nearly eaten by a basilisk and that being confident in who you are is the sexiest thing in the world. Harry taught me that the right choices are not always the easy ones. And all of these people, along with the multitude of other taught me that love is a more powerful force in this world than we could ever imagine.