User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4166995-20110719002433

As children, we accept things more easily than adults do, but if you come to know something as a child, it tends to stick with you. For me, Harry Potter was a chance to enter a fictional world where the most incredible, unique, and original things could happen. From the first to the last book, I grew alongside Harry and his classmates and came to love the characters as my own imaginary family, grieving, laughing, and learning as they did. My heart broke when favorite characters died and it healed when good triumphed. I fantasized myself entering Hogwarts, imagining which House I would be sorted in to, which subjects I would excel at, which teachers I would get along best with, and which wand would choose me if I visited Ollivander's. The books and movies were so real that I began to seriously consider that they might just be that--real. With the release of the final film, Harry Potter fans are saddened, but the books and movies have immortalized Harry Potter and the world of magic to which I can always visit and not only remember my childhood, but look forward to introducing to my children as well. Harry Potter was a friend to those of us who needed one, those who loved nothing better than to read until the book was finished and he is still there every time we need that friend again.