User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4160843-20110717190139

While I was growing up, I always had a time reading books or even writing. This carried on for a long time, even to the point people thought I was mentally handicap. It wasn’t until my third grade (and later fourth cause she was that awesome) teacher brought in the Harry Potter series that I found a new passion for reading. The moment I heard those first words, the first spell cast, I went out and bought the book series so I could read along with my teacher as she read the passages out loud. In fifth grade, I was bullied and teased, with little to no friends. So, rather sit alone in the cafeteria or on the playground, I read the books. People thought I was strange yet once I had my hands on those beloved pages, I felt happier.

Entering sixth grade meant for me, home schooling (due to the fact the middle school and high school around me would have destroyed me). To help with the time and fill the void, I took to Harry Potter forums. There, I gain the interest of role-playing and thus writing. And of course, friends I never got in fifth grade.

Now, ten years later, I’m an English Major with a book of my own on the way. I have friends that I hold on dearly while fangirl-ing (or boy-ing) over Harry Potter. Harry Potter, in a sense, gave me my identity and my future.