User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4156078-20110720062108

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." ~Paul Sweeney

Since I was little, I always remember being so forlorn at the finish of the latest Harry Potter book. I’d even go so far as to read that little description about the font style and paper-type on the last page to stave off putting down the book--because then it would all be over.

Harry Potter has not only helped shape the person I am today, but it has also been a companion and scrapbook of my life since my mom read the first book aloud to me and my sister. When I was 10, I even went so far as to write a letter to Dumbledore on looseleaf paper, folded into an envelope, and styled with green ink. As I’ve moved, Harry Potter has also been a kind of scrapbook for all the people I left and all the places I never got to grow up in. Sitting down with a Harry Potter book, I can remember all of the places I've read it. Snuggling into a comfortable position, I really feel like I've come home—whether that’s on my bed or in an unfamiliar house full of moving boxes. Each time I ended the book was like an ending to that comfort.

But thankfully with the Internet Age, Harry Potter's also birthed a massive fandom that continues to grow. Regardless of language barriers or age group, its connected people all over the world in a way few fandoms ever have--the books don't have to end with the last page anymore. To me, this is the sort of thing that makes a classic. It's not the powerful prose or witty dialogue, but the shared dream it inspires in everyone who reads it. For every kid that waited for a Hogwarts letter on their 11th birthday or every college student that secretly hoped they'd get one in lieu of job offers or every adult that hid the cover of a children's book because they, too, wanted to escape to Hogwarts even if they weren't supposed to believe in magic anymore.

Now that I’m older, I realize my adventures at Hogwarts don't end with the last movie or the last book. I'll keep making memories when I re-read the books, discuss them with my friends, and hopefully when I read them to my children.