User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4168122-20110719052456

I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when I was six years old, and this weekend, during my last summer at home, I saw the final movie. Harry Potter has spanned my whole childhood and re-reading the books takes me back over the arc of nearly my entire life. I remember how I felt at eight reading about Quidditch, and how I felt at thirteen, when Dumbledore died at Snape's hand. Harry Potter is a way for me to connect with my younger selves (and Harry and Ron and Hermione's younger selves, since they've become old friends in the last twelve years) in a very emotional way. Harry Potter is also a reminder to be courageous, to not listen to Aberforth, doubting in the Hog's Head, but to carve out a happy life for oneself as Harry did. And for all the wonderful years of escapism and immersion in a magical world that Harry has given me, that lesson means just as much to me.