User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4140417-20110712195706

To me, Harry Potter is a guide. Ever since I opened that first book when I was 11, I longed to have Harry's adventures. I wanted to fly a broomstick or cast charms with a wand. I wanted friends who would stand by me while facing a crowd of Death Eaters, or sneak around Hogwarts with me at night. Twelve years after opening that first book, I now wait, age 23 and still unbearably excited, for the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter film, and as I wait, I can look back on my life and see how Harry has guided me all these years. When my best friend came home after a year of battling drug addictions, I recalled how Ron returned to Harry and Hermione after recovering from the influence of the horcrux. When my college roommate's father passed away, I remembered Harry's grief over Sirius's death, which helped me better understand my roommate's pain. I lived by Sirius's words, "If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." and Dumbledore's revelation, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." I took the SATs when Harry took the OWLs, I learned to drive while Harry learned to Apparate, and I left home for the first time when Harry, Ron, and Hermione went on the run in the wilderness. Harry had been with me for over half of my life, growing up right next to me, and through these years, I've striven to be as brave, loyal, and selfless as he is.